💼 Lesson 7.3: Work & Interviews — Describing Your Experience

Talking About Work

Whether you're chatting at a party, meeting new colleagues, or sitting in an interview, you'll often need to explain what you do. English has a set of natural phrases for this, and many of them lean on grammar you already know — especially the present perfect from Module 1 (I've been working…, I've done…), which is perfect for connecting your past experience to now.

This lesson has two halves. First, the everyday language for describing your job, experience, and skills. Then, the special situation of the job interview — the classic questions and how to answer them well. By the end you'll be able to talk about work confidently in any setting.

Describing Your Experience

Here are the core phrases for talking about your job, your duties, and what you're good at. Notice how they let you sound professional without complicated grammar.

Work Vocabulary

These words come up constantly at work and in interviews. Learn them as a set — they'll appear again and again.

Tip: When you prepare for an interview, read the job advert and underline the skills and responsibilities it mentions. Then use those exact words when you describe yourself — it shows you're a great fit.

Common Interview Questions

Most interviews use a handful of predictable questions. If you prepare answers to these, you'll be ready for the vast majority of what you'll be asked.

Giving Strong Answers

A strong answer isn't longer — it's structured. A great pattern for "Tell me about yourself" is Present → Past → Future: what you do now, what you've done before, and what you're looking for next.

For "What are your strengths?", use the pattern Strength + Example — never just name a quality; prove it:

Here's the flow of a confident interview answer:

graph LR
    A["Listen to the question"] --> B["State your point clearly"]
    B --> C["Give an example / reason"]
    C --> D["Link it to the job"]

Listen: A Job Interview

Here's a short interview for a customer-service position. Read it once, then use it as a listening text. Watch how the candidate, Marco, uses the phrases and patterns from this lesson — and how he stays calm and gives examples.

Now check how carefully you followed the interview:

🔊 Hear It & Repeat — Model Sentences

Listen to each model sentence, then say it back. Use the 🎧 Audio control (bottom-right) to choose a UK or US voice and slow the speed down. Notice the work phrases and interview language in action.

Practice & Project

Tips & Common Mistakes

✅ Do's

• Use the present perfect to link experience to now: "I've been working as… for…".
• Answer "Tell me about yourself" with Present → Past → Future, not your life story.
• Back every strength with a short example — proof beats adjectives.
• Prepare one question to ask the interviewer, and use fillers to buy thinking time.

❌ Common Mistakes

📓 Learning Journal

📝 Lesson Summary

🎉 What You've Accomplished

You can now talk about your job and experience with confidence, and walk into an interview with real, structured answers instead of nerves. Describing what you do and what you're good at is a skill you'll use for the rest of your working life — in interviews, at networking events, and every time someone asks "So, what do you do?" 🎉

❓ Common Questions at This Stage

🔭 Looking Ahead

You've reached the end of the functional module. Next, we return to grammar that keeps everyday conversation flowing smoothly. In Lesson 8.1: Question Tags & Keeping a Conversation Going, you'll learn those little endings — "…isn't it?", "…don't you?" — that check, confirm, and invite a reply, plus other ways to keep a chat alive.

✅ Before the Next Lesson

• Say your "Tell me about yourself" answer out loud three times until it feels natural.
• Practice describing two strengths, each with an example.
• Write your Learning Journal entry for this lesson.